- Completion of York Minster Revealed Project: On Target and Under Budget!
- Gilded Light: Sixteenth-century Stained-glass Roundels Exhibition
- Events at the Stained Glass Museum
- New Funding: University of York MA in Stained Glass Conservation and Heritage Management
- Job Opportunity: Learning Officer, The Stained Glass Museum
- Guild of Glass Engravers - Spring Lecture
- Window on a Parish: The Stained Glass of St Laurence, Ludlow: a One-Day Conference
Completion of York Minster Revealed Project: On Target and Under Budget!
On 31 March hundreds of people, conservators, stonemasons, volunteers, guides and friends gathered at the east end of York Minster to celebrate the successful completion of the five-year Heritage Lottery funded York Minster Revealed Project, which has seen the conservation of the east façade of the minster and the conservation and protection of John Thornton’s magnificent Great East Window, as well as the redisplay of the minster’s museum collections, the provision of new toilets, and the creation of a new urban space to the south side of the building. Speaking of the HLF’s £10.5 million contribution, chief executive Carole Souter said ‘I hope National Lottery players will be proud of what their contribution has achieved.’
Fig. 1. Workers raise a glass of beer to celebrate the completion of York Minster Revealed.
Fig. 2. The newly conserved and installed panels of the Great East Window.
The conservation of the Apocalypse section of the Great East Window, the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in Britain, has included the creation of a new state of the art ventilated protective-glazing system, fabricated in Glasshütte Lamberts Restauro UV© glass. The six-hundred-year-old window is not only kept dry and safe from wind pressure, but light-sensitive conservation materials are shielded from damaging UV light, providing effective protection from all detrimental environmental factors. The history of the window and its conservation by the York Glaziers Trust (YGT) is outlined in the sumptuously illustrated Apocalypse: The Great East Window of York Minster by YGT director Sarah Brown (London: Third Millennium, 2014).
Work is continuing on the twenty-seven Old Testament panels of the window and the tracery panels, which will return to the minster by the end of 2017.
Gilded Light: Sixteenth-century Stained-glass Roundels Exhibition
An exhibition entitled Gilded Light: 16th-century Stained Glass Roundels from the Collection of Sir Thomas Neave and other Private Collections will be held at the gallery of Sam Fogg, a leading dealer in the highly specialized field of medieval art, from 1 to 8 July 2016.
Fig. 1. St Peter, Southern Netherlands, c.1520.
Fig. 2. After a design by Lambert van Noort (c.1520, Amersfoort – 1571, Antwerp), Nebuchadnezzar easting grass among the cows, Southern Low Countries, Antwerp, c.1560 (after 1558)
The exhibition brings together thirty-five exquisite stained-glass roundels and panels of other formats, the majority of which were made during the sixteenth century when the art form was at its zenith. The core group of roundels, presented to the public for the first time, were brought together by one of the most important early modern connoisseur-collectors of medieval and Renaissance stained glass, the 2nd Baronet, Sir Thomas Neave of Dagnam Park (1761–1848). An avid enthusiast of European artworks, and particularly of glass, Neave was one of the first private collectors to amass a collection of high-quality stained glass from the Low Countries, purchasing many of his pieces directly from dissolved monasteries and foundations, or through agents such as the German cloth merchant John Christopher Hampp (1750–1825), who settled in Norwich and traded with Flanders throughout his career. Much of the Neave collection was destroyed by fire or has subsequently been dispersed; some of the panels formerly in his collection can today be found in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; the Burrell Collection, Glasgow; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and in English churches that the Neave family endowed. His family seat, Dagnam Park in South Weald (Essex) was demolished in 1950, and the remains of his glass collection were dispersed by his direct descendants. Characteristic of Sir Thomas Neave’s taste and acute eye for detail and quality, the group of roundels presented in this exhibition are illustrative of a vivid and breath-taking highpoint in the medium. They are of a quality and state of preservation that is rarely found on the market today.
The exhibition will be held at Sam Fogg, 15D Clifford Street, London, W1S 4JZ
Events at the Stained Glass Museum
Stained Glass Walking Tour
Caroline Swash, stained-glass artist and author of The 100 Best Stained Glass Sites in London (2015), will lead a stained-glass walking tour in Putney and Fulham on Tuesday 31 May 2016. For more information, see January’s Vidimus.
Tickets: £30 (£25 Friends of the Museum) can be purchased from the museum’s website.
Annual Lecture 2016 – London
Fig. 1. Detail of 10 Green Bottles, Alice Temperley and John Reyntiens collaboration for Gordon’s Gin, 2013.
The stained-glass artist John Reyntiens will deliver the museum’s annual lecture on Thursday 30 June 2016, 6.15pm, at the Art Worker’s Guild, London. In this talk John will reflect on his career in stained glass and talk through his substantial portfolio of new designs, restoration and conservation work, including his recent Diamond Jubilee Window for the Queen in Westminster Hall (2012). This is a rare opportunity to hear from one of Britain’s leading stained-glass artists, and not to be missed.
Tickets: £15 (£12.50 Friends of the Museum) can be purchased from the museum’s website.
Heraldry Study Day
‘Mitres, Martlets and Mantling’: a heraldry study day organized by the Stained Glass Museum with Chloë Cockerill will take place on Saturday 10 September, 10.30am 4pm, at the Ely Cathedral Education and Conference Centre.
Heraldry is all around us – in both ecclesiastical and secular buildings – and can often provide vital information about the history of a building and the people associated with a place. This study day is intended as a basic introduction to the language and art of heraldry in all its various forms. Open to all, it will help you to recognize, interpret and accurately describe a variety of heraldic emblems. The day will be in split into two halves: a morning session of two informal introductory lectures – the first on how to identify and describe shields, colours, furs and the royal arms, and the second on how to understand arms that demonstrate peerage, and family pedigree. In the afternoon there will be a heraldic tour of Ely Cathedral to look at ecclesiastical arms and many other examples of heraldry in situ, before a visit to the Stained Glass Museum to see some fine examples of heraldic stained glass in both the museum’s main gallery and reserve collection.
Chloë Cockerill is a former Regional Development Manager for the Churches Conservation Trust. She is a popular lecturer for NADFAS, the National Trust, and many historical associations throughout Britain, with a special interest in heraldry and fabulous beasts. She has written articles and guide books on churches and heraldry and is an Ely Cathedral guide and Friend of The Stained Glass Museum.
Tickets: £40 (£30 for Friends of the Museum). Prices include lunch (all dietary requirements catered for). Please bring your Friends membership card or cathedral pass with you. You can book online, by telephone, or by post. Please make cheques payable to the Stained Glass Museum.
Exhibitions
• Geoffrey Clarke: A New Spirit in Stained Glass (Stained Glass Museum gallery), 1 April – 1 July 2016
• Paradise and Other Places, Mick Abbott (Ely Cathedral in conjunction with the Stained Glass Museum), 14 June – 15 July 2016
• Sheryl Vaughan: Cast Glass (museum shop), 1 March – 30 April 2016
• Juliet Forrest: Landscapes (museum shop) 6 May – 10 June 2016
New Funding: University of York MA in Stained Glass Conservation and Heritage Management
In 2017, the York Glaziers Trust will be celebrating its fiftieth anniversary. Having been instrumental in the establishment of the University of York’s stained-glass conservation programme, the trust has allocated a proportion of its anniversary fund to the provision of scholarships for students accepted on the programme in 2016 2018. Two scholarships worth £10,000 each will be available, and all applicants (UK, EU or overseas) will be eligible. The successful applicants will also be assured of a sixteen-week placement at the York Glaziers Trust in the first year of study. For more information about the course, visit the university’s website, or contact the course administrator Brittany Scowcroft.
Job Opportunity: Learning Officer, The Stained Glass Museum
The Stained Glass Museum is recruiting a part-time learning officer to develop and deliver its high-quality programme of formal and informal learning activities for all age groups. The learning oOfficer will be responsible for developing and delivering the museum’s learning activities for a wide variety of audiences, including schools, adults, special-needs learners, and families. The post holder is supported by a team of skilled volunteers who assist with the delivery of the education programme.
The closing date for applications is midday on Friday 13 May 2016. More details can be found on the museum’s website.
Guild of Glass Engravers - Spring Lecture
The Guild of Glass Engravers Spring Lecture is entitled ‘The 100 Best Stained Glass Sites in London for everybody to enjoy’ and will be given by Caroline Swash. It will be held at the Art Workers Guild, 6 Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London WC1N 3AR, on Saturday 21 May 2015, with doors opening at 2.00pm.
For tickets and more information, please visit the guild’s website.
Window on a Parish: The Stained Glass of St Laurence, Ludlow: a One-Day Conference
Fig. 1. Detail from window nVII, St Laurence, Ludlow.
A one-day conference will take place in St Laurence’s Church, Ludlow, on Saturday 25 June 2016. The lectures are as follows:
• Bridget Cherry: ‘St Laurence, Ludlow in Context’
• Prof. Tim Ayers: ‘The Tree of Jesse Window’
• Emma Woolfrey: ‘Liturgy and the Laity: an Exploration of the Catechism Windows’
• Dr Christian Liddy: ‘Telling Tales in Stained Glass: The Adventures of the Palmers’ Guild’
• Dr Jasmine Allen: ‘Gothic Revival to Arts and Crafts: the 19th- and 20th-century Windows’
• Sarah Brown: ‘Past Histories, Future Challenges: The Conservation of the Ludlow Windows’
Tickets including refreshments and lunch are priced as follows:
• Standard £50
• Members of supporting organisations £45
• Local residents £45
• Ludlow Palmers £40
Bookings can be made online. When booking, check the list of supporting organizations to see whether you qualify for the reduced price. You can also send a cheque made payable to ‘CTSLL’ to The Ludlow Palmers, 2 College Street, Ludlow SY8 1AN. Don’t forget to include full contact details.
